Toyota's Unintended Acceleration Woes Are Likely to Drag On

Whether you believe it is at fault or not, Toyota's recent loss in an unintended acceleration case should make one thing clear to observers: This is only the beginning.

To understand why, consider the story of Tom McDonald. McDonald, an Audi spokesman in the 1980s, received a call earlier this year from a law firm wanting to depose him about an unintended acceleration case from 1986. "They told me, 'Your name has come up as a possible person to be deposed in an Audi unintended acceleration case,' " McDonald told Design News. "It didn't really surprise me, but I had hoped it might be over after all these years."

McDonald's story became especially relevant after last week's decision in the Toyota unintended acceleration lawsuit. The lawsuit stemmed from the case of a 76-year-old woman whose Toyota Camry sped out of control as she was exiting an Oklahoma highway. The ensuing crash injured the woman and killed her passenger. Last week, a jury found in favor of the woman, awarding her $3 million.

Last week’s unintended acceleration verdict stemmed from the case of a 76-year-old woman whose Toyota Camry sped out of control as she was exiting an Oklahoma highway. (Source: Toyota)

Prior to last week's verdict, Toyota had already won in three unintended acceleration claims. Now it's facing another trial next month in California, where about 200 death and injury cases are pending.

In the recent trial, electronic throttle control was cited as a cause. Because modern throttles no longer employ an old-fashioned throttle-valve cable for actuation, lawyers cited the possibility "outside electronic signals" -- in other words, electro-magnetic interference (EMI) or radio frequency interference (RFI). Software was also a possible culprit, according to a story in our sister pub, EE Times.

But prior to last week's verdict, other potential issues were cited. In 2012, 154,000 Toyota vehicles were recalled, due to potential misplacement of floor mats, which could have bunched up under the accelerator. A few weeks after that, a US Senator demanded that the National Highway Traffic Administration look into "tin whiskers" as a possible cause of unintended acceleration. And prior to that, Toyota considered other theories, including potential problems involving heaters and accelerator friction levers.

The parallels between the Toyota and Audi cases are striking. Audi looked at EMI and RFI. Its engineers searched for outside influences on the vehicle's cruise control. And it examined -- over and over again -- the idle stabilizer. But no smoking gun emerged. "We kept looking for it," McDonald told us. "I almost prayed for it. I said, 'Please let us find the reason for it, and extract us from this quagmire of terrible public opinion.' That way, we could have at least said, 'Yes, we found the problem and we repaired it.' "

But Audi's efforts, of course, weren't able to stop the flood of accusations and bad publicity. "There was suspicion on everyone's part -- The Center for Auto Safety, the Audi Victim's Network, and the State's Attorney's Office," McDonald said. "Everyone became an expert."

If no technical culprit is found in the Toyota case, the issues associated with electronic throttle control could loom large over the next few years. Virtually every automaker now employs it, and it has become a technical foundation for active safety features, such as lanekeeping, adaptive cruise control, and collision avoidance. "It won't matter how many lives you save with those technologies," David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research, told us. "If you lose one life due to electronic failure, you're going to be wide open to broad litigation."

Not knowing the intricacies of Toyota's case, McDonald freely acknowledges that the giant automaker may still have an unidentified technical issue. "It could be a confluence of factors," he said. "Maybe there's not one problem. Maybe it's two or three things happening together."

He doubts, however, that a smoking gun will be found. "I don't think there will ever be a definitive answer, an 'aha' moment," he told us. "If history is any indicator, Toyota could be in for a long battle."

While there are some limitations as Ann suggests, we still fall far short in this area. My fifteen year old son is in a driver's education class and I have not heard them speak on the topic if driving emergencies in any detail. We were driving our Chevy Lumina on the highway when the dashboard lights started to dim. It was our first sign that our alternator was going out. Taking the first exit we could and pulling into a gas station on the service road saved us from being stuck on the highway at night - we barely made it into the parking lot when the car died. It was a good lesson for our son - encouraging observation of the car's gages and lights can go a long way - and how to respond if something seems wrong.

What to do if the accelerator seems stuck?

What to do if the brakes aren't responding?

What to do if the steering quits?

What to do if the car is skidding?

We can at least address these basic issues in training people to drive so that they have some idea of what to do when things like this happens...

J. Williams' point has come up before, and rightfully so--that pilots are well trained to deal with mechanical emergencies while flying, but drivers aren't trained to deal with mechanical emergencies while driving. OTOH, to do so, drivers would have to be not only mechanically minded, but also up on the latest stuff under the hood, and elsewhere in the car, since it keeps changing.

Once the lawyers smell the blood in the water it is open-season on deep pockets.

The ironic thing is that as much as I don't like fly-by-wire throttles, they are likely to be safer in the long run for any number of reasons, such as stability control, traction control, etc. I do recall many years ago, driving a cable actuated carburetor equipped car, I mashed the throttle to accelerate and lo and behold (unbeknownst to me at the time), a strand in the cable at the carburetor snapped right at the cable sheath ferrule and held the throttle virtually wide-open. Lifting the throttle pedal with my toe had no effect so my immediate reaction was to turn the ignition switch off. As long as you didn't pull the key out, the steering doesn't lock.

This is what people should be trained to do. But virtually nobody has any driver training for emergencies. Pilots do it all the time. I think we have a lot to learn from our airborne brethren.

After coasting to the side of the road, a quick look under the hood revealed the reason, and that errant strand of cable was quickly dispatched with a pair of wire cutters and I was able to continue on home. A few days later a shiny new throttle cable was installed.

This is really bad news for Toyota but also for people with vehicles that also could potentially have this issue. Let's hope there are no more accidents before the cause and the vehicles that may be affected are discovered.

Design News readers spoke loudly and clearly after our recent news story about a resurgence in manufacturing -- and manufacturing jobs. Commenters doubted the manufacturers, describing them as H-1B visa promoters, corporate crybabies, and clowns. They argued that US manufacturers aren’t willing to train workers, preferring instead to import cheap labor from abroad.

Using wireless chips and accessories, engineers can now extract data from the unlikeliest of places -- pumps, motors, bridges, conveyors, refineries, cooling towers, parking garages, down-hole drills and just about anything else that can benefit from monitoring.

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